World Chess: Topalov wards off Anand challenge

World champion Viswanathan Anand had to settle for yet another draw against challenger Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria to remain tied after the 11th round of the ongoing World Chess Championship in Sofia.

With just a round to go in the 12-game competition, both Anand and Topalov are tied at 5.5-5.5 points.

Anand and Topalov have so far registered two wins each while seven games have ended in no result.

If anything, the world champion has not been able to display is his superior form which was the talking point amongst the chess buffs in the first half of the match.

After losing the first game and winning the second and fourth thereafter, Anand's best chance was in game nine when he missed multiple winning opportunities.

But the Indian ace now finds himself in a situation where Topalov holds the edge with his white pieces in the final game.

Anand's choice of English came as a big surprise to many but Topalov remained undeterred in one of the main lines of the opening.

Anand's opening was certainly something new, but Topalov found an ingenious way to counter white's plan by introducing a new move on his 11th turn as the opening position was quite rich with possibilities.

The Indian fought for the initiative in the ensuing middle game but could not really find much that would have given white hopes. After the trade of queens it was an endgame on board which should have been a draw but Topalov created chances for himself with some deft manoeuvres.

Anand decided to sacrifice his last remaining pawn on the queen side but proved in the end that his counter play was sufficient to equalise the ending. Topalov's pieces threatened to cause some damage for a brief while but the game was drawn after 65 moves.

Asked about the possibility of a tiebreaker in the event of another draw in the final game, Topalov said, "First we have another game, then we will see."

As is the rule, the tiebreaker will be played under rapid chess rules in which Anand has by far established himself as one of the best players ever.

To add to that, Topalov had lost his last world championship match against Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the rapid tiebreaker which holds Anand as a favourite in the event of a tiebreak.